Mom, I’m Hungry!

-Mom, I am hungry!
Great, I will make you something.
-“Something” sounds yucky!

Have a picky pre-school eater? Try serving up some letter lunches! My son loves learning the letters of the alphabet with his classmates at preschool, and we recently applied this love of the alphabet to the kitchen.

One day when my picky eater came home from preschool he informed me that the letter of the day was “C.” He opened up the fridge and told me he would like some corn on the cob for his after school snack. Then, he carried on with the theme. We continued on our hunt for C foods. “Mom, cucumbers are like baby pickles! They start with C, too!” Cashews and carrots were the other C snacks we discovered that day. Would you believe my picky eater finished his whole plate of C foods? Typically, he eats one or two bites of things, but because he helped pick the foods and was excited about his meal, he was a member of the “C”lean plate “C”lub!

Thinking his appetite was a one-time deal, we went on another letter lunch hunt when the letter of the day at preschool was “P.” We searched our “P”antry and “P”icked some pretzels, peas, peanut butter, Pringles and a pear. Again, his “P”late was empty!!!

For those of you with picky kids, you understand how real the struggle can be, and what an accomplishment it is when your child eats more, or more diverse food. If you have a picky pre-schooler, give letter lunches a try. Invite your youngster into the kitchen and have them seek foods that start with a given letter! Give small portions of items, and encourage your child to give each food a taste. You will expand your child’s knowledge and hopefully fill their bellies, too.

What tricks have you tried with your picky eaters?

Amanda Ciani lives in Northern Kentucky with her husband and their three terrific sons. She enjoys writing haiku parenting poems for her Instagram account (@cinciciani), and Twitter account (@haikuciani).

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